Shooting 35mm film and horseback riding in Maydena, Tasmania

“The team” | maydena

As a group of friends who met and lived in Canada, it was somewhat surreal to all be together again in the country town of Maydena, Tasmania. All the way across the world to and within Australia, one of the smallest cities in the country. Although Maydena is a small town, make no mistake, it has the best bike park in Australia. Soon to be known worldwide (for those who don’t already know) when the EWS will shut down in a few weeks.

With the company of good friends and world class trails, there wasn’t much else we needed to have a great time. We ended up camping in the heart of town on a friend’s property. This set us up with the perfect base camp. A place to eat, sleep and above all… chirp. The constant flow of banter and laughter is what most friendships are built on. With us, there is no exception to this. Our luxury camp included key amenities such as us; our rustic bush shower (bag of boiling water hanging from a tree). The dormitory, a row of 6 garlands in the back of our shipping container. The main attraction, our glorious base, a shipping container converted into a small studio by the great Simon McLaine. All pieced together to make a home for good times. Offer me a 5 star hotel and I will refuse it any day of the week, it was exactly what we needed. Big shout out to Dane and Simon for putting it all together. It’s common spaces like this that make trips like this so memorable.

When we finally got on our bikes we were blown away by the quality of the trails there. The majority of the group, except one or two, have all lived in Canada. Living in British Columbia, we have been spoiled with some of the best bike parks in the world. Maydena is on par with these larger and better known parks in North America. In particular, the steep nature trails that the park is littered with are unreal. It feels like a bike park for those who don’t like bike parks. We all have friends who don’t like riding in bike parks because it’s too slick or manicured. While there are some flowing trails in Maydena, the hand-built trails that wind through lush Tasmanian rainforest will keep you coming back for more. Whether it’s for us, we hope that this great meeting at Tassie will become a regular thing for all of us. We are really looking forward to seeing how this park will grow in the next stage. Being only a few years old, there’s no denying that this is an amazing start.

Video edited by: Tom Wilson (@YamaFolk)

Filmed by: The whole crew, but special thanks to Tom Wilson, Corbin Selfe and Simon McLaine

Still photography: Casey Ripper (@Caseyripperphoto) and Corbin Selfe (@corbinselfe)

Special thanks: Big shout out to Maydena Bike Park (@Maydenabikepark) and Black Diamond Bike Racks (@blackdiamondbikeracks)